The air of the alleys around the Qin warehouses pierced through Xia’s nose. No matter how much time he spent there, he never got used to it. His cheap boots were thin enough for him to feel the dampness of the cobblestone streets below him. He couldn’t remember the last time it had rained. Few people walked around him, most of them avoided the alleys. And with good reason, the soldiers of the guard rarely came here.
He was a tall young man, 6’2 and still growing. His hair was brown but with some red color on them, it was against the law to paint one’s hair red, only pureblood members of the Yang Sect could hear it, but putting a little bit of amber ink on your hair was the eternal fashion of young cultivators trying to make a name for themselves in this city. Unless you were caught like that in Jin Clan territory.
His clothes were as cheap as his boots, just standard gray robes that matched his unimpressive face, not enough to be called ugly, but no one would pick him out of a crowd based on his looks. The sword at his hip was also bland, only a small gem on the hilt signalized that he was a cultivator, even if barely so. The only impressive thing in his person was the silver emblem on his chest. A beautiful small bird with gold eyes.
Passing through the alleys he looked for the tavern he heard about. Real establishments with backing of one of the Families were set up in the main streets, close to the city guards and perfect for young masters to hang out. But there were advantages of setting up shop here, advantages that attracted a certain type of client.
There were no signs of points of references, but eventually after wandering through depressing alley after depressing alleys he found it. The alley ended up in a small plaza made of pink ceramic bricks with a dead fountain in the center. Morning sunlight bathed the statue of a beautiful woman in the center who didn't have both of their arms. And by the west wall that surrounded the plaza the Raging Bull tavern was open despite the early hour. Maybe they never closed out.
It was a bar worthy of its surroundings, just a circular hole in the wall with a counter by waist height where an older barman took orders from clients that sat on tables outside, above the hole a boar was crudely painted with red ink. A group of men wearing matching black robes were occupying most of the tables. They were drinking, talking and looked like they were up the whole night. A couple of other customers sat alone in the rest of the tables, they kept their eyes on their drinks and made sure to not gaze towards other people.
Xia took his time looking at the group wearing black robes with nervous eyes before gathering his courage and marching towards the counter. He walked over the broken ceramic bricks with stretches of dirt and wild grass appearing here and there. When he was 10 feet away from the tables a deep voice cut through the noise.
“What’s your name, boy?” Xia looked at the big man at one of the center tables who addressed him. He had no hair but a jet black mustache that complemented his beautiful face, he had the appearance of someone in their 30s. His hands grasped a small wine jar, probably not his first giving the red tint in his cheeks. Everyone stopped talking and drinking and fixed their eyes on Xia.
“I-t’s Fang Xia” Xia’s voice was a little nasal. He noted all the faces looking in his direction. Small gangs like this formed from time to time, too small to get noticed by the Families or the Kaiming Gang but big enough to bully the peasantry.
“Xia huh, first time around here?” The mustache man was showing a smile that didn’t reach his eyes.
“Yes, I just arrived from Ming Village.”
“It figures. You know, Xia, Pearl City is a dangerous place, especially at this time of the day.” All the other members were also smiling now “The guard’s night shift is going home and most of the morning shift is still in the barracks. So even if a guard wanted to check how Zou De’s establishment is doing he wouldn’t arrive here for a while.”
“Is this a threat?” Xia asked and adjusted his posture, resting his right hand on the hilt of his sword. The man laughed.
“Oh no, my friend, I’m just giving you a tip, if you want protection in these parts of the city you need friends.” The man got up and his aura enveloped the entire plaza pushing Xia a couple of steps back before he stopped himself. Nascent Realm. Even his underlings flinched when they felt it, all of them were certainly still in Fundantion Realm, incapable of even materializing Qi, let alone dealing with auras. “And friendship is never cheap.” Xia gulped and readjusted his posture.
“What do you want?” His voice was more firm now.
“Nothing much, this beautiful jewelry on your chest would suffice, where did you get it?” He pointed at the silver bird with gold eyes.
“A family heirloom.” Xia’s left hand raised to his chest immediately “My sister gave it to me for luck.”
“Oh.” The man chuckled. “So it worked, there is no greater luck in Pearl City than a lost farm boy becoming friends with me.” He started walking towards Xia “Now, why don’t you give it to me and we can drink De’s terrible wine in honor of our friendship?”
“I don’t kn-”
“I SAID GIVE IT TO ME” The man’s aura intensified with his scream and he disappeared from the spot he was in and appeared 3 feet from Xia with his hand extended towards the bird.
Xia’s sword melted its sheath and in less than the blink of an eye it cut the man from the belly to the chest and from the top of the chest to his left nipple, leaving a trail of blue flames in his robes and flesh. The man screamed and jumped backwards, Xia tried to follow but he screamed and a wave of black energy pushed Xia away.
“Tsk” Xia’s aura pushed the man’s aura away, creating a bubble around him. “Even a beaten dog doesn’t forget all of his tricks huh.”
“They sent you.” The man’s voice was higher now as he clenched his chest. The members of his group got up from their tables but didn’t advance, their eyes now locked on the red flames dancing in Xia’s sword. A group of well trained Foundation cultivators could take a Nascent expert, but well trained is the last thing you would use to describe the black robbed men. It probably took all of their courage to not run away with the other customers and the barman.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
“You can’t run away forever Long Fen. Cripple your cultivation now and surrender the token and I will let you get away with your worthless life.”
“LET ME GET AWAY YOU PIECE OF SHIT.” Long Fen, the disgraced former member of the Hidden Tooth society roared as he unsheathed his sword, a nasty saber, way too thick to be used with any finesse.
He jumped forward again, his aura enveloping Xia’s aura trying to pop it. But Xia’s aura held. Fen’s sword cut through the air in the direction of Xia’s chest. Xia defended but before he could counter-attack his senses screamed and he jerked his head to the side, barely dodging a thin beam of black energy that came from behind him. Fen capitalized on the distraction and punched Xia in the jaw.
Xia jumped backwards and sent a jet of red flames to block further aggression. It was just a small amount at a small distance, only in latter stages of cultivation one acquired truly long ranged attacks.
“YOU DON’T DECIDE ANYTHING HERE BOY” Long Fen was not known for his patience before being humiliated in public, now he was just unhinged. “I WILL CRIPPLE YOUR CULTIVATION AND SELL YOU TO A BROTHEL.”
Xia smiled and waved his sword around. A beautiful and slender blade, perfect medium for his Qi and flames. Fen jumped forwards again but this time he changed his slice midway into a thrust towards Xia’s face. Xia blocked but flared his red flames at the same time, burning even more of the black robe and flesh of his enemy. His danger sense alerted again but this time the black beam was aimed for his back and all he could do was twist his body enough so it didn’t hit any vital organs.
Pain pierced through the back of his stomach but he barely noticed it among the adrenaline of the battle. Fen didn’t back away from his flames this time, his saber danced in the air and aimed for Xia’s shoulder in an overhead motion. He parried and continued the movement with his sword aiming the hilt of his swords towards Fen’s face. He tried to dodge but Xia chased him and hit his nose with enough force to feel the bones breaking.
The hit sent Fen stumbling away in a panic, Xia tried to follow but 3 beans shot from the space between both fighters and forced Xia to envelop his sword in flames and block them with a swing.
Fen finally regained control of his body and looked at Xia with eyes of pure hatred on top of the red fountain that was his nose.
“Now you did it, boy” His voice was a fair cry from before, barely understandable “I will not even bother sending you to a brothel, I will fuck you to death myself with this stick you call a sword.”
Xia only smiled. Fen blew blood from his nose and attacked again. But this time was different. Beams shot towards Xia’s left side immediately, forcing the younger man to dodge and block them. Fen arrived from his right, swinging a storm of blows at the same time he conjured more beams this time from Xia’s back. He blocked, ducked, dodged, parried, rolled and every other defensive maneuver he could think of, but Long Fen was not a Duelist once for nothing.
A cut in his thigh, beams piercing his shoulder, a poke in his chest, he was about to be overwhelmed when he spun fire around him and integrated his flames with his aura, creating a bubble of fire in the region around him. Fen tried to block with his aura but it couldn’t pierce Xia’s aura and he was sent back flying towards the fountain of the plaza. He smashed through the statue and landed on the other side of it, breaking all the bricks in the region with his landing.
“NOBODY MOVES” Xia’s voice paralyzed the gang members that tried to go towards their leader’s body. They looked at him, blood flowed from the numerous cuts in his body, drenching his robe and the ground beneath him. But his aura and sword were crackling with flames and his eyes were red as amber. They backed away from him, slowly at first but then they ran towards the alleys.
Xia almost sighed with relief, despite how scary he may look he was almost completely out of Qi with barely enough to prevent massive blood loss. fighting one Foundation cultivator would be difficult in his state, a whole gang was out of the question. Long Fen truly earned his rep-.
He started to move from where he had landed. He coughed and moaned as he got up, spitting blood and using the fountain to get his balance back. Xia watched with disbelief as his opponent fully regained his composure after getting hit with a direct aura attack, he was even still holding his saber.
“I got to admit it, boy.” His voice was still weird. “You are more talented than me, using my aura to deliver elemental Qi was something I’ve never been able to do. But…” He coughed a ball of blood. “No talent can overcome years of Shen accumulation, you are spent, and I still have something in the tank. Not much, but enough to finish this.” He waved his saber around. “But it doesn't have to end like this.”
“No?” Xia started to walk around Fen in a circle, going around the fountain so it didn’t stand between them. “I thought you were pretty sure about what you would do with my butthole.”
“Ha, I was just taunting you. You know how it is, you did with me too, calling me a dog and all that stuff” Fen didn’t make further advances towards Xia, happy to keep the distance from now “But you’ve proved that you can do more than be a slave for those guys” He spat more blood to the ground “Someone as strong and young as you shouldn’t need to accept contract for low-lifes like them, and shouldn’t have to die because of them.”
“Life is not about what should or should not happen” Xia stopped 10 feet away from Fen with his posture straight and sword pointed towards the older man.
“True words.” Fen lowered his saber and pointed it to the ground “Do you know why I had to run away from my last Duel?”
“No, nor do I care.”
“You should. You see” Even through his broken nose Fen’s voice was clearly filled with disdain and scorn “That fucker that ran the Hidden Tooth society is a pervert, he decided one day that he liked my wife, liked her enough to go through me to get her. But he couldn’t never beat me in a fair fight, few people in the Nascent Realm can, so he arranged a duel between me and one of those few people who could beat me. Zhuan Lei from the One Eye Society. He forged evidence that I had attacked her niece last month and she demanded a duel to the death. When I lost I knew what would happen with my wife if I died so I used a treasure and ran away.”
“I still don’t understand how this is my problem.” Xia looked at the older man, his chest going up and down as his Qi fought to repair the damage made by Xia’s aura.
“It’s your problem because you will die to do the bidding of a monster” Fen was almost yelling again “Just walk away now and forget this happened, or better yet, join me and we can kill that motherfucker and his lackeys.”
“I don’t think so.” Xia’s reached from a pocket in his robes.
“YOU DAFT FUCK” Fen’s voice became more and more incomprehensible as he lost more and more of his temper “Why can’t you understand that it’s either this or dying like a dog.”
“You are the stupid one here, who didn’t notice that the fight was over since the first exchange.” Xia produced a scroll from his pocket.
“What?”
“It was nice fighting with you, I’ve learned a lot.” Xia bowed towards Fen. “But now is time for you to die”
“YOU STUPID WHOR-” Fen yelled as he jumped forwards again but the scroll in Xia’s hand activated and produced a ball of blue flames. Blue runes appeared on the cuts in Fen’s chest and sucked the flames from the air, Fen tried to swing his saber, shot black beams, and press with his aura, but nothing stopped the flames from entering his body. He screamed, blue ethereal light flashing from his mouth and eyes. And just like that, he fell down into the bricks for the last time.
Xia sighed. What a fucking mess, he regretted taking this job now. The reward would barely cover the cost of the scroll.